Over the last week Samsung has updated their Samsung Flow app on Google Play and the Windows Store to work with more devices and to support a new authentication method. It might sound uninteresting, but it means that your Samsung phone can now unlock your Windows 10 device. At least, when using the corresponding app for both Android and Windows 10. So even if your computer doesn't have a fingerprint reader, you can now use the one on your phone to unlock it.

The Android half of this setup was updated a while back, but the Windows application meant to accompany it was delayed due to Microsoft's application publishing process. The Galaxy TabPro S already supported Samsung Flow's fingerprint unlock feature, but now it works with other Windows 10 devices, too. We knew this was coming since back in February, and the wait is over.

When you are ready to give it a try, you can follow Samsung's step-by-step instructions over here. But, if you're reasonably tech-savvy then you probably won't run into any trouble. All that's required to set things up is a compatible Samsung device running Marshmallow or newer, and a computer with Bluetooth and fTPM support running the Windows 10 Creator's update and June security patch (version 1703, 15063.413 or later). That might sound complicated, but it just means any somewhat recent Windows 10 device with Bluetooth that has been updated. Just install Samsung Flow onto each, follow the instructions to pair the two, and you are good to go. If you don't have a Samsung device, though, you are out of luck.

Other noteworthy (but older) features of Samsung Flow include the ability to sync notifications between platforms, an instant hotspot feature, and easy file transfers between linked devices. It also works for both Samsung phones and tablets. So, if you have a supported device, it might be worth giving it a try. You can download it now over at Google Play or APK Mirror, and the Windows 10 app is available here.